Water charges in Scotland lowest in Great Britain

Household water charges in Scotland are expected to remain among the lowest in Great Britain.

Scottish Water today confirmed that an increase in household charges is again being limited to 1.6% across all council tax bands – around £6 a year for the average household, providing stability in charges for customers.

It means the average Scottish Water household charge in 2017/18 will be £357 – less than £1 a day. While charges for 2017/18 in England and Wales have yet to be announced, the current average household charge of £389 is considerably higher than in Scotland.

By 2021, Scottish Water has pledged that household charges overall will have fallen in real terms.

Between 2015 and 2021, Scottish Water is investing £3.5 billion in projects the length and breadth of Scotland.

The six-year investment will be made in water treatment works, pipes and networks – providing customers with improved service, enhancing the environment and supporting jobs in the Scottish economy. This is around £1,370 for every connected property. Ongoing projects include:

Construction of the £100 million Shieldhall Tunnel in Glasgow. This will improve water quality in the River Clyde and reduce flooding; a new £29 million water treatment works to provide continuous, high-quality drinking water to customers in the Oban area and a £5 million upgrade of Dundee’s drinking water network.

Douglas Millican, chief executive, said: “Scottish Water customers continue to enjoy the benefits of one of the UK’s best value water and waste water services.

“The quality of drinking water received by our customers has never been higher, while we’ve continued to achieve excellent customer satisfaction results.

“We are firmly focused on meeting our customers’ expectations of us. That’s why we’re building on the significant improvements we’ve made to water services by providing value for money, stability and certainty in charge levels.

“By 2021, we expect to deliver further improvements to drinking water quality and environmental performance while at the same time ensuring that overall household charges have fallen further in real terms.”